Monday, September 21, 2009 – Santa Barbara
– Lesson 3 in a series about trends
Trends (3)
THE POSITIVE PREACHING MOVEMENT
a.
It
is NOT simply preaching sermons with a positive message.
That is something that needs to be done.
The overall theme of the gospel is one of hope and assurance.
God IS a God of grace, love
& mercy. He demonstrated that love by sending Jesus to die for our sins.
We have a hope of heaven
after this life.
People need to be
encouraged. We are to live
joyful lives. That is the
ultimate message of the Bible.
b.
It
is a philosophy that says
that we need to emphasize the positive aspects of the gospel by not
directly condemning sin or being overly doctrinal.
It encourages preaching generalizations and lessons which improve
one’s self-character (usually through the philosophies of well known
men). The belief is that by
eliminating the negative and thinking positively, the positive
encouragement will lead one to become more devoted to do what is right
on his own. But more often
than not, this does not happen.
Its origins can be traced back to the philosophies of men.
For example, Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the church of Christ
Scientist taught that sickness was a result of improper thinking.
Therefore, if you think positively, you can find healing. The
business world adopted this philosophy nearly a century ago as well.
Speakers like Dale Carnegie who wrote, “How to win friends and
influence people” (1936), presented a positive mental attitude which
could lead to success.
(NOTE: I do not deny the effectiveness of a positive attitude in such
things. As a rule, we need a positive attitude – which I believe the
Bible teaches. But, that is
not the point here.)
In 1952, Norman Vincent Peale published the book, The Power of
Positive Thinking in which he adopted positive business attitudes
such as Carnegie’s, but he called them “faith”.
His was a challenge to change your circumstances by first
thinking differently. His
concept also involved eliminating negative thoughts which would lead to
success. These matters were
applied to material success as well.
The ideas were adopted by many television evangelists (Oral
Roberts, Robert Schuler, Jim & Tammy Bakker, etc) who taught a “health
and wealth” gospel.
The process has continued to develop.
Now there is Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now) & Max Lucado whose
many books present mostly the positive elements of the gospel.
But beyond these, it is a philosophy being adopted by many young
preachers (and others not so young) even in the Lord’s church.
(Some of these details thanks to a series of articles by Mike Willis in
Truth Magazine, Vol. 31, April 1987).
c.
The
movement is VERY successful, and with reason.
In an article I read, by a denominational preacher, on this subject (he
was against the idea of all positive preaching) it was noted that some
influences that have led to positive preaching
include 1) that it is the
direction society is going in its education and practices, 2) “the
current climate in religious circles favors affirmative preaching.
Courses in pastoral counseling point to the advantages of
non-judgmental, positive communication.” 3)”The pastor’s own
congregation often pushes him to preach affirmatively.
These churches do not choose ministers to change them, but rather
those who will confirm them in their current beliefs and practices.”
As a result of these reasons, congregations where such is practiced are
more inclusive and therefore appeals to a larger audience. These include
many of the mega-churches, community churches and others that are
growing by the 100s on a yearly basis.
(NOTE: I am not saying that just because a church is growing it
is preaching a positive gospel – TT)
It is also argued that because the preacher is less judgmental
they are more like to open up to him privately.
http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-5-No-2/The-Importance-of-Preaching-the-Negative-as-Well-as-the-Positive
If churches are seeking numbers over truth, the positive
preaching movement is the way to go.
BUT, hopefully we already know the problem with all these reasons.
Every one of these things is related to a single problem which we
shall notice in just a few moments.
d.
It
can be the elimination of all negative preaching. True “positive preaching”
avoids preaching about sin, controversial doctrines , and consequences.
The true positive preacher won’t tell you that you need to
repent. Instead, he will
say, “I’m OK, You’re OK just the way you are.”
e.
It
is the elimination of preaching on CERTAIN subjects
which are negative. Among
brethren, this is the bigger concern to me.
Understand that the “positive preaching movement” is NOT
necessarily preaching false doctrine.
One who is caught up in the positive preaching movement may not
preach anything that is error.
Every word he says may be the truth. He may even throw in the
TRUE plan of salvation at the end of his lesson (though some have also
eliminated the invitation as well), but when you look at his preaching
overall, he LEAVES OUT portions of the word of God.
There are churches that will not preach on certain subjects because they
are divisive and upsetting to many within the congregation.
They approach other subjects such as morality in general terms
instead of specifics (i.e. they will preach the need to live a moral
life, but they won’t mention dancing or social drinking directly,
immodest clothing, etc).
M-D-R is to be avoided at all costs.
The reason - to preach on such might upset some of the membership.
As a result, they hire preachers who hold to these philosophies.
They choose preachers for Gospel Meetings that are popular and/or
“safe” when it comes to dealing with such issues.
f.
It
is not something that happens over night.
One thing to understand about
churches that get caught up in this movement is that the change happens
gradually. At first it is
the just the avoidance of certain topics.
But in time this leads to avoiding other topics. Before long, the
congregation begins searching for someone whose preaching is influenced
by the philosophies of men more than the Bible.
They find someone who uses very little scripture in his
preaching. But he is
dynamic, entertaining and well informed about the latest trends in the
religious world. The writings of men (such as those mentioned above) are
often emphasized more than the Bible itself.
As such attracts crowds and the church begins growing rapidly it
becomes necessary to avoid even more topics that might drive away these
new members. So the focus
becomes EXCLUSIVELY about the benefits of Christianity.
Sins of society and eternal punishment are to be avoided as
topics at all cost. That
is when you have a church carried away with the positive preaching
movement.
a.
It
is unscriptural – Why?
Because we are to preach ALL of the word of God.
Positive preaching by its nature eliminates much of what the Bible
teaches.
1 Peter 4:11, when we
speak it is to be “as the oracles of God.”
God spoke both positively and negatively.
Frequently He condemned sinful conduct and attitudes.
In the pages of His word we find STRONG warnings of wrath to
those who do not obey Him – Rom. 2:5-9, 2 Thess. 1:6-10.
In Acts 20:27, as Paul
spoke to the Ephesian elders he reminded them, “For
I have not shunned to declare to you the
whole counsel of God.”
Paul rebuked and became quite “negative” at times.
In fact, he wrote 2 Corinthians to defend he “negative tone” in
his first letter (and possibly others)>
2 Tim. 3:16-17 –
ALL SCRIPTURE is
profitable to make the man of God complete.
Man is NOT made complete unless he applies ALL that scripture has
to say.
b.
It
is more about pleasing men than pleasing God
–
We noted this in our lesson last night about the Community Churches.
Why do they grow so large?
Because they PLEASE MEN!
Continually, scriptures warn against pleasing men in our teaching and
preaching -
Gal. 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God?
Or do I seek to please men?
For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of
Christ.”
Matt. 5:11-12
in speaking of being persecuted, Jesus said, “Blessed
are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil
against you falsely for My sake…” Sometimes
it is when men CURSE you that God is pleased with you.
c.
It
is often based on selfish motives
–
Related to pleasing men, true positive preaching is about you.
It is about your wealth, & health.
It is about hearing what YOU want to hear instead of what you
NEED to hear.
Often, positive preaching soothes materialistic and worldly attitudes
because it ignores what is really needed.
Sadly this is what far too many want when it comes to preaching.
2 Tim. 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but
according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they
will heap up for themselves teachers…”
Isaiah
30:9-10, “This people is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will
not hear the law of the Lord; Who say to the seers, ‘Do not see’, and to
the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth
things, prophecy deceits.”
d.
It
can give a false sense of security
–
Positive preaching, because of what it leaves out can cause one to think
he is saved when he is not.
2 Peter 2:18-19 speaks of
the great swelling words of emptiness spoken by false teachers who
allure those who have escaped from error, “while
they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption…”
How can the homosexual know they are wrong unless it is pointed out to
them? How can one living in
an unscriptural marriage know such unless it is taught?
Ezekiel the prophet was given a charge by God to be a watchman.
His responsibility lay in warning the people, not the results.
BUT, if he failed to warn them – God would hold him accountable
(Ezek. 3:17-21). There is a
lesson for us a preachers in that!
e.
It
leads to ignorance -
Ignorance is a great concern in spiritual matters.
In fact, most of the time it is not good.
You would not want an ignorant surgeon operating on you.
You want him to be informed and you want to be informed.
The same ought to apply to
hearing the word of God.
Hosea
4:6 noted, “My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
More than once Paul wrote because he did NOT want brethren to be
ignorant (1
Cor. 12:1, 2 Cor. 1:8, 1 Thess.
4:13)
Positive preaching by its very nature only tells us half of the story
and thus it leaves out IMPORTANT parts!
In fact OFTEN it leaves out the part we need most – what we need
to change about ourselves.
There are certain subjects that by their very nature are negative, but
necessary – repentance, the reality of hell, Rom. 8:13, “Put to death
the deeds of the body”, condemning division and identifying false
teaching and teachers, etc. When
one only preaches a positive gospel he leaves these out.
Failure to warn the ungodly leaves them in their sins and in a lost
condition. And God will hold
the teacher accountable as well (cf. James 3:1).
In Ephesians 4:11-16 we find teachers and leaders were given to build up
the body so that, “we should no
longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of evil
potting.” (14)
f.
It
can lead to apostasy -
Every church that ever left God did so by leaving the teachings of the
Bible and following after the teachings of men.
Over and over, false teachers are described as predators that
take advantage of the ignorant – Romans 16:18 speaks of those causing
division being able to do so, “by smooth speech and flattering words
deceive the hearts of the simple.”
IF the truth is NEVER taught on certain subjects (because they are
controversial or negative) how will a congregation withstand the false
teacher who comes in and wants to allow women in roles God has
forbidden, instrumental music, changing the worship and work of the
church, etc.?
g.
It
weakens the purity of the church and its members.
We NEED to hear lessons about morality and how to behave ourselves as
Christians. We need to know
what is acceptable and what is not.
1 Cor. 6:18-20 warns to keep ourselves pure from fornication.
1 Thess. 5:21-22 tells us to abstain from every form of evil.
What is a “form of evil”? We
will not know unless we take the time to learn and unless it is preached
about! There are reasons Christians should not drink, attend modern
dances, wear immodest clothing or go to places where such is worn, etc.
But those reasons will not be known if it is ignored in the
pulpit.
h.
It
leads to tolerance –
tolerance of errors and those teaching errors.
Sometimes in ignorance, but other times simply because of the desire to
just get along with everyone – which is a pivotal concept of positive
preaching.
The church at Thyatira was condemned because they allowed “that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce
My servants to…” sin (Rev.
2:20)
The church at Pergamos was
rebuked because they had in their midst those who taught the doctrine of
Balaam and others (Rev. 2:14-16).
When false teachers are NOT exposed such will have their way.
Galatians 2:5 notes that
Paul and those with him did not “yield submission even for an hour that the truth of the gospel might
continue…” when false teachers brought their doctrine with them.
i.
It
leads to intolerance – of
those who preach what they perceive to be negative.
I am amazed at many of the liberal movements in our society
today.
The homosexual movement calls for tolerance of their lifestyle.
The pro-abortion movement calls for tolerance of those who chose
to abort their babies. What
is remarkable is while they call for tolerance – it applies to everyone
EXCEPT those who disagree with them.
The same is true of those who are calling for “positive preaching.”
They don’t want to condemn sin, false doctrine and immorality.
They call for those who differ with them to be tolerant, BUT they
will not tolerate those who do condemn sin and immorality and false
doctrine on a regular basis. And they are especially intolerant of those
who would preach a sermon like this one!!!
The account of Ahab and Micaiah also shows this -
1 Kings 22:8-13 which
describes an occasion when Jehosephat, king of Judah visited with Ahab,
they inquired about going to war.
Multitudes of Ahab’s prophets said, “Go, you will be successful.”
But Jehosephat said, “Is there not still a prophet of the Lord
here, that we may inquire of Him?” (vs. 7).
Ahab’s response was, “There is still one man, Micaiah the son of
Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; BUT I HATE HIM, because he
does not prophecy good concerning me, but evil.” (8)
Later in that text the minions of Ahab plead with Micaiah to tell
Ahab good things (13) rather than the truth.
That is how many are today.
j.
It
can lead to a lack of trust
– if you think about it, how can you truly trust someone who will not
tell you what you need to hear?
While positive preaching appeals to most at first, in time, when
one needs real answers that are not sugar coated, they know they are not
going to get them from their preacher.
AND, on the other hand, when one NEEDS to hear something negative
that they don’t want to hear – the positive preacher is in a corner
where he CANNOT tell them what they need because it is negative, and
they just don’t want to hear that.
k.
It
DAMNS souls to hell!
This is the ultimate tragedy of this movement.
The sad truth is that many who preach this positive only gospel
don’t really believe in eternal condemnation in torments.
The Bible teaches otherwise – John 5:29, 2 Thess. 1:8, etc.
And thus we can see
some of the problems with the positive preaching movement and why we
need to be aware of them. It
is a dangerous movement. I
want to conclude this lesson with this observation:
2 Tim. 4:2 summarizes what I am talking about.
We sometimes hear preaching is to be 2/3 negative and 1/3
positive (Reprove, rebuke and exhort).
While there are 3 elements, the text is not exponential about how
much of each is to be done.
ALL need to be done as OFTEN as necessary.
The point I see is that such is a process in dealing with sin.
You identify the sin, tear it down and then replace it with what
ought to be there. The
ULTIMATE goal is to build up those in Christ.
And if that happens, regardless of the amount of reproving and
rebuking had to take place – THE END RESULT IS POSITIVE.
Why is sin exposed, doctrines and even people marked? Why are brethren
to be rebuked when they are overtaken in sin or even when they just
become indifferent? The MAIN
reason is to build them up.
But sometimes BEFORE you can build something up, you have to condemn and
tear down what is there because it is bad.
When a surgeon cuts you,
he is hurting you. But
why? He hurts you NOW so
that in the long run you will be healed and your quality of life
improved. It is the end
result that prompts the hurt.
Why do (SHOULD) parents punish their children? Because they hope they
will learn from the punishment to do what is right. The Hebrew writer
CLEARLY pointed this out – Heb. 12:5-11.
God chastens us, as a father chastens his children – FOR THEIR
GOOD! IF a Father beats his
child just to do it – that is abuse; If he beats (i.e. spanks) him as
punishment to teach him to not do that again – that is love and
discipline.
May we as preachers ALWAYS keep that in mind!
This will regulate our attitude as we preach.
And it will cause us at times to become very NEGATIVE in the eyes
of the world. But the goal
is to save a soul – 1 Peter 1:9.